Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has said that the Red Devils need to be more "ruthless" if they are to achieve their ambitions for the season.
The 20-time English champions moved to within one point of fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League table courtesy of a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night.
Marcus Rashford sent Man United ahead in the 19th minute of the contest before turning provider for Anthony Martial to double the home side's advantage four minutes later.
The Red Devils did not score a third until the 87th minute through Fred, though, and Forest had opportunities to make it an uncomfortable second half for the hosts.
Ten Hag was "happy" with his team's performance against Forest, but the Dutchman said that the top-four chasers must make better use of their opportunities.
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"I'm happy with three goals and there could have been even more, and a clean sheet, so I think we have a good return after the break," Ten Hag told Amazon Prime.
"It was nice to watch our game. We are growing but, after a break, you see always a setback and a drop in performance. I have seen that now as well, also we are missing some players.
"It's normal but I saw it in all the games in this round of the Premier League. There is a lot of work to do to get back to the highest standards but the games will help you as they're better than training.
"I can confirm that [is the case], because that is what I said (to be more ruthless) in the dressing room. We have to score more goals. I think we created so many chances, it takes us until just before the end to make the third goal. I think we have to finish the game in earlier moments.
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"I think just after half-time, we created two really good chances and we have to finish the game. Many games are to come, you can then save more energy, which is better for everyone, but also for the progress of the team, you need that.
"I think our players can score, you can see that, Martial is a goalscorer, Rashford is a goalscorer, Bruno Fernandes scores goals, so we have a lot of players who can score goals but we have to be ruthless."
Man United will be bidding to make it five straight wins in all competitions when they travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
Ten Hag's side will then have four straight home matches in three separate competitions against Bournemouth, Everton, Charlton Athletic and Manchester City.
Matt Law
